The only thing keeping the bill on track is Cameron's support. The Tories are terrified that this will become their Poll Tax. Let's make it that. If enough people come out on the streets, they will drop the bill like a hot coal. This march could be organised with the help of other organisations.

Libraries offer computer access to the poor, give access to books to those unable to afford them, and provide education for all, regardless of social status.

They are inclusive of all, not just the 'white middle class'. They provide ways to learn about other cultures as well as our own, promoting understanding of foreign ways of life. They enable people to learn about subjects they may not have had the oppurtunity to study in the past. They provide a quiet place to study and read. They allow people to see the world in new ways.

There is a deadline of 14th April for us to make our views known to government about which subjects should remain part of the national curriculum. Many arts subjects are at risk. For example, no conservative MPs thought that music should remain in the national curriculum and only 1 in ten labour MPs thought it should remain. The arts should not be a luxurious add-on. They should be part of every child's basic entitlement. Music, for example, can be academically rigorous, and is also a feature of every known human culture. It has been part of the core curriculum for civilised nations over 2,000 years since the time of Plato. Removing the arts from the national curriculum will de-value them, lead to a lottery of education with individual schools choosing whether or not to provide arts education for their children. Even if you don't agree with me about the arts, we should at least let the government know what we think about which subjects should be compulsory for our schools to teach.

There is a deadline of 14th April for us to make our views known to government about which subjects should remain part of the national curriculum. Many arts subjects are at risk. For example, no conservative MPs thought that music should remain in the national curriculum and only 1 in ten labour MPs thought it should remain. The arts should not be a luxurious add-on. They should be part of every child's basic entitlement. Music, for example, can be academically rigorous, and is also a feature of every known human culture. It has been part of the core curriculum for…

West Midlands and Surrey Police Force have recently announced that they are to put £1.5 billion of Police Force responsibilities out for grabs to the private sector. This is likely to include frontline services such as:

The private sector must not be allowed to reep profits from such vital public services. Institutions that are there to protect the safety of the public do not need the third party involvement of private companies.
History has repeatedly shown that when private companies that are incentivised by profit margins are allowed to deliver essential public services, accountability goes astray. Giving the authority that is currently vested in the police to private companies jeapordises the rights and liberties of all UK citizens.

Home Secretary Theresa May believes that handing the power of policing to private companies will protect frontline policing; we say it won’t, and that there are alternatives to making drastic cuts to policing, and indeed, destroying the concept of the Police as a trusted and dependable public institution.

There are far too many issues at stake to summarise them all in this brief call to arms, but other than the basic morality at stake they include:

 Social care and responsibility: ‘the Police’ is far more than a crime-fighting force. What will happen to victims who need access to social workers, counsellors and so on?

 Training: who will ensure that privately trained officers are not in fact privately trained security guards? Our current police force has to train, sit exams and meet required standards. Will the taxpayer then fund yet another private body to take on this crucial role?
 Ensuring the rights of both victims and suspected criminals are protected, and that everyone has a fair trial and is innocent until proven guilty. For example, the UK already has one of the lowest rape conviction rates in the Western world, with the few victims that do come forward often commenting that they feel on trial themselves. How will a profit-driven business model improve our already appalling statistics in such areas?

The list of specific issues is long, and we will be adding to it as this campaign builds. For now, we need you to please register your support and add your comments and feedback. Please act now – before it’s too late!
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No to the privatisation of the Police!

West Midlands and Surrey Police Force have recently announced that they are to put £1.5 billion of Police Force responsibilities out for grabs to the private sector. This is likely to include frontline services such as:

We petition the UK Government to reconsider the privatisation of public sector prisons and withdraw from the contract with G4S to operate HMP Birmingham, which will be the first public sector prison to be privatised. Staff at HMP Birmingham went through a 2 year bidding process, always believing that the prison would remain public.

There is no evidence to prove that private is better then public, In fact, a private prison costs on average £1000 more per prisoner place per year then it costs in the public sector, with no rehabilitation improvement.

Should a private company be allowed to gain financial profit from crime?

Should shareholders have increased dividends paid from profit that is gained from criminal activities?

G4S estimate costs to operate HMP Birmingham, and newly built Featherstone 2 in the West Midlands, at £750 million to the tax payer. Featherstone 2 has already been built at the tax payer’s expense and now will be run for profit. This can not be right; it must be stopped before more prisons are privatised. Support this campaign. HMP Birmingham is your prison. It is not for profit.

We petition the UK Government to reconsider the privatisation of public sector prisons and withdraw from the contract with G4S to operate HMP Birmingham, which will be the first public sector prison to be privatised. Staff at HMP Birmingham went through a 2 year bidding process, always believing that the prison would remain public.

There is no evidence to prove that private is better then public, In fact, a private prison costs on average £1000 more per prisoner place per year then it costs in the public sector, with no rehabilitation improvement.

Essex County Council started consultations on May 23rd 2013 to close a secondary school in Thundersley Essex rated as a "Good school with outstanding features" by OFSTED. This is a constructive closure by Councillor Gooding The Cabinet Member of Education and Lifelong Learning. His consultation is flawed and has been recommended by his own Scrutiny Commitee that "there is insufficient evidence" to close the school. Yet he ignores his own council and presses ahead with the closure. Rebecca Harris MP is fully opposed to the closure as is the local Castle Point Borough Councillors and the neighbouring Southend Unity Council and Basildon . The figures published in Cllr Gooding consultation were incorrect and have been proven so. Two local schools have been paid £2m to take 30 students each out of the 800 children that will lose their choice of being educated at The Deanes School leaving them no other alternative that to travel out of the area to finish their education. There are 2000 + homes being built in the area and one man Cllr Gooding is closing a school ???? We have a facebook page with over 3000 members dedicated to our campaign https://www.facebook.com/groups/savesthedeanes/ . We have all the local council members as well as Rebecca Harris MP and Steven Metcalf on board fighting for this unique school to stay open . Council funds were/are ringfenced for a new build on the school site to include a special school on our grounds, we were going to be a flagship school incorporating mainstream and special educational need children working in harmony together. ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL ARE PULLING THE PLUG ON US. We need your help to bring national awareness and fight with us to keep the school open.

Essex County Council started consultations on May 23rd 2013 to close a secondary school in Thundersley Essex rated as a "Good school with outstanding features" by OFSTED. This is a constructive closure by Councillor Gooding The Cabinet Member of Education and Lifelong Learning. His consultation is flawed and has been recommended by his own Scrutiny Commitee that "there is insufficient evidence" to close the school. Yet he ignores his own council and presses ahead with the closure. Rebecca Harris MP is fully opposed to the closure as is the local Castle Point Borough Councillors and the neighbouring Southend Unity Council…

Unemployment amongst 16 to 25 year olds in the UK has reached record levels with more than a million young people struggling to find work; yet, following cuts to the Connexions service, thousands of young people across the UK now have either very limited or no access to face-to-face career guidance, a situation caused directly by the Government's decision to place the statutory duty to ensure impartial careers guidance on schools, who have been given no additional funds to deliver such important services; and calls on the Government to reverse its policy and instead to provide sufficient funding to the Careers and Connexions Service to help our young people plan and organise their futures.

Unemployment amongst 16 to 25 year olds in the UK has reached record levels with more than a million young people struggling to find work; yet, following cuts to the Connexions service, thousands of young people across the UK now have either very limited or no access to face-to-face career guidance, a situation caused directly by the Government's decision to place the statutory duty to ensure impartial careers guidance on schools, who have been given no additional funds to deliver such important services; and calls on the Government to reverse its policy and instead to provide sufficient funding to the…

Much like the NHS, many of those working in theeducation system, parents and experts are against the enforced conversion of state schools to Academies. Yet again this is an exampl eof the government cutting an areas budget and then privatising when standards drop because of the lack of funding. This is undemocratic, with little evidence and as with the NHS removes the reponsibility of education towards private companies and with the right campaign we could stop it.

Under new proposals, the government will force GP surgeries to hand over YOUR medical records to a central NHS database. Privacy campaigners say "this is the biggest data grab in NHS history".

Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at Cambridge University reported ‘Under these proposals, medical confidentiality is, in effect, dead and there is currently nobody standing in the way.’ Suggestions of third parties being given access to this data make the move even more sinister. There is even talk of selling your private medical data to third parties. Imagine insurance companies and finance companies even your employer, having full access to your private medical record . . . It sends Orwellian shivers down my spine.

Please do not be mistaken, this move the by government is not in the interests of your health, and I for one will not stand this attack on my PRIVATE medical records, what about you?

Under new proposals, the government will force GP surgeries to hand over YOUR medical records to a central NHS database. Privacy campaigners say "this is the biggest data grab in NHS history".

Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at Cambridge University reported ‘Under these proposals, medical confidentiality is, in effect, dead and there is currently nobody standing in the way.’ Suggestions of third parties being given access to this data make the move even more sinister. There is even talk of selling your private medical data to third parties. Imagine insurance companies and finance companies even your employer, having full…

My name is John Langley, and the original driver behind the campaign to petition the Monarch to NOT grant Royal Assent of the Health Bill.

Since starting this campaign on Twitter at 6am yesterday (March 8th 2012) I have so far engaged the support of Lord Toby Harris to be the conduit for rallying the support of his House of Lords colleagues in petitioning the Queen.

It isn't as simple as communicating with Her Majesty direct, as it requires the 'Barons' to petition on our behalf.

The right to petition the Monarch is embedded in Article 61 of the Magna Carta, and as Common Law takes precedence over Statutory Law and is therefore equally embedded within our Constitutional rights.

On the Coronation of Her Majesty, she took an oath to act within the best interests of her people and uphold our wishes.

The Health Bill, as it currently stands, is about breaking up our NHS by the back door towards privatisation in a way which is a win-win for the current Government regardless of the result at the next general election.

If they succeed in their current actions it opens the door to further privatisation legislation being introduced at a later date because they have set a precedence.

If they win by having this Health Bill made statutory and open up further possibilities prior to the next general election and they happen to lose governance to one of the other parties, then it places the incoming Govermnent in a position where it is too far forward to back down from and there is no alternative except to proceed with the Tory/LibDem legacy.

A win-win either way.

If you don't want to see the Health Service broken up into small pieces like British Rail then you absolutely HAVE to support this campaign and stop Royal assent

My name is John Langley, and the original driver behind the campaign to petition the Monarch to NOT grant Royal Assent of the Health Bill.

Since starting this campaign on Twitter at 6am yesterday (March 8th 2012) I have so far engaged the support of Lord Toby Harris to be the conduit for rallying the support of his House of Lords colleagues in petitioning the Queen.

It isn't as simple as communicating with Her Majesty direct, as it requires the 'Barons' to petition on our behalf.

The right to petition the Monarch is embedded in Article 61 of the Magna…

The US-EU free trade agreement (TTIP : Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) is extremely important because it will make lots of struggles completely pointless, especially for the NHS but also against fracking.
The most proeminent points of the TIPP are:
- elimination of all trade tariffs and the reduction of all tariff barriers
- more closely tied cooperation among the EU and US regulatory bodies protection
- restriction of subsidies to state-owned enterprises (e.g: NHS, Education, Justice etc.)

Prioritising ‘regulatory harmonisation’ means bringing together the regulatory frameworks of the EU and the US, making them much more alike. Many areas of our lives will be affected, such as food safety. Generally, standards will go down, including for health protection, food etc. For example it will be possible to sell chicken treated with chlorine.

Furthermore, corporations will have the right to sue the UK government for any attempts at ‘reversals’ that limit future corporate profits, and they will be able to sue govts directly in international trade dispute jurisdictions of their choosing i.e. not at the level of the host country’s legal system, for the loss (or 'expropriation') of all anticipated profits.
Last but not least, negotiations are confidential. It means that we will not have any information before an agreement is reached by the "partners".

The US-EU free trade agreement (TTIP : Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) is extremely important because it will make lots of struggles completely pointless, especially for the NHS but also against fracking.
The most proeminent points of the TIPP are:
- elimination of all trade tariffs and the reduction of all tariff barriers
- more closely tied cooperation among the EU and US regulatory bodies protection
- restriction of subsidies to state-owned enterprises (e.g: NHS, Education, Justice etc.)

Prioritising ‘regulatory harmonisation’ means bringing together the regulatory frameworks of the EU and the US, making them much more alike. Many areas…

Philip Hammond recently announced a multi-billion pound investment to install high-speed rail services between London and Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and other cities in the north. The overall effect would be reducing journey time by a only a matter of a few minutes. I believe the government needs to divert their attention to more pressing matters in green and energy-efficient transport, rather than trying to keep up with the Jones'es by building unnecessary rail systems on already adequate services.

Today (31st January 2011), The Sun ran the front page headline 'Anarchists Target Wills and Kate' as part of a 'Sun Investigation' into actions planned by certain anarchist groups to disrupt the royal wedding.

This petition/campaign is not aimed at supporting the anarchists in their actions to do this, but to open the question to the great British public of 'Do We Really Care?' - There are already a few campaigns in regards to the cost of the wedding to the British taxpayer etc., but other than an extra day or so off from work, does the royal wedding really merit so much media attention?

This campign/petition is a chance to show your indifference to the royal wedding, and to the media who play it up as such an important occasion.

Please take the time to vote on this.

Thank You!

Today (31st January 2011), The Sun ran the front page headline 'Anarchists Target Wills and Kate' as part of a 'Sun Investigation' into actions planned by certain anarchist groups to disrupt the royal wedding.

This petition/campaign is not aimed at supporting the anarchists in their actions to do this, but to open the question to the great British public of 'Do We Really Care?' - There are already a few campaigns in regards to the cost of the wedding to the British taxpayer etc., but other than an extra day or so off from work, does the royal wedding really…